1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a calendar software application and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for highlighting holidays of a specified geographical location in a calendar software application operated by a portable intelligent communications device or a separate computer.
2. Description of Related Art
A new class of communication devices has been developed which includes a full computer integrated with the communications hardware and software. These devices, known as portable intelligent communications devices, differ significantly from personal digital assistants (PDAs) and handheld personal computers (HPCs) in that they are designed extensively to be a communications device rather than merely a "mobile computer." As such, the top features for the communications device are telephony, enhanced telephony, messaging, and information services. In order to enable at least some of these features, the portable intelligent communications device is able be connected to the Internet by either a wired link or a wireless link. It ill also be understood that certain software applications are provided within he portable intelligent communications device which facilitate the aforementioned features, as well as other desirable features such as a Personal Information Manager (PIM), games, and the like. An exemplary portable intelligent communications device is shown and disclosed in a patent application entitled "Switching Of Analog Signals In Mobile Computing Devices" and having Ser. No. 08/796,119, now abandoned, which is owned by the assignee of the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference.
It will be understood that the aforementioned portable intelligent communications device is targeted to the traveling business person, particularly to one who travels to and calls foreign locations. Due to the number and different kinds of holidays observed around the world, it is important for the business person to know what and when such holidays are observed in each country so that phone calls can be placed and meetings scheduled without conflicting therewith. While some calendar software applications have been formatted to distinguish weekend days (i.e., Saturday and Sunday) from week days (i.e., Monday through Friday), no apparent effort has been made to distinguish holidays, particularly as related to a specified country. It would therefore be desirable for a calendar software application to be developed, which may be operated on a portable intelligent communications device or a separate computer, that is able to identify the holidays for countries around the world and distinguish them from other days on such calendar.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method in a calendar software application which permits identification of holidays observed in a selected country.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method in a calendar software application which distinguishes holidays from other days for a selected country.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method in a calendar software application which permits identification of holidays observed in a plurality of selected countries, as well as distinction of such holidays for each selected country.
Yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method in a portable intelligent communications device for retrieving holiday information for a selected country via connection to an Internet address.
These objects and other features of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon reference to the following description when taken in conjunction with the following drawings.